Display apparatus and touch detection method for the same

ABSTRACT

An exemplary display apparatus includes a plurality of pixel units, a plurality of gate lines, a readout line and a plurality of touch control units. The gate lines are for deciding whether to enable the pixel units. Each of the touch control units is electrically coupled to the readout line and a corresponding one of the gate lines and includes a switching element. When one of the touch control units is touched, the switching element of the touched touch control unit is turned on, and thereby a waveform on the gate line corresponding to the touched touch control unit is coupled to the readout line and a position of the touched touch control unit is determined according to a timing sequence of a waveform on the readout line. The present invention also provides a touch detection method adapted to be implemented on the above-mentioned display apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of and claims prioritybenefit of application Ser. No. 12/547,476, filed on Aug. 25, 2009, nowpending, which is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from theprior Taiwanese Patent Application No. 098105848, filed Feb. 24, 2009,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to display apparatuses capableof performing touch screen functions and touch detection methods for thedisplay apparatuses.

2. Description of the Related Art

A touch screen introduces a novel interface for human-machinecommunications, it is more intuitive in use and in line with humannature. Traditional touch screen technology uses an additional ITO(indium-tin-oxide) module to detect signals and thus has the drawbacksof high cost, low contrast and increased module thickness. In order toovercome the above-mentioned drawbacks, several solutions of touchcontrol function directly integrated into panel manufacture of displayapparatus have been proposed, and wherein a press-type touch screen hasthe advantages of immunity to the ambient light disturbance and in linewith human intuition for use. There are several approaches to acquire apressed position for the press-type touch screen, for example, obtaininga signal by detecting a common voltage delivered from a color filtersubstrate during which is pressed to be in contact with a thin filmtransistor array substrate, to acquire a pressed position; or using apotential difference generated by a change of liquid crystal capacitancein conjunction with an common voltage swing effect to acquire a pressedposition. However, the above-mentioned approaches are incapable ofperforming a multi-touch detection function, and thus the applicationsare limited.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention relates to a display apparatus capable ofperforming a touch screen function and achieving a multi-touchdetection.

The present invention further relates to a touch detection method.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned advantages, a display apparatusin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is provided.The display apparatus includes a plurality of pixel units, a pluralityof gate lines, a readout line and a plurality of touch control units.The gate lines are for deciding whether to enable the pixel units. Eachof the touch control units is electrically coupled to the readout lineand a corresponding one of the gate lines and includes a switchingelement. When one of the touch control units is touched, the switchingelement of the touched touch control unit is turned on, and thereby awaveform on the gate line corresponding to the touched touch controlunit is coupled to the readout line and a position of the touched touchcontrol unit is determined according to a timing sequence of a waveformon the readout line.

In one embodiment, each of the touch control units further includes asensing capacitance and a liquid crystal capacitance electricallycoupled with the sensing capacitance in series, a first terminal of thesensing capacitance is electrically coupled to the corresponding one ofthe gate lines, a second terminal of the sensing capacitance is coupledto a predetermined voltage through the liquid crystal capacitance, andthe second terminal of the sensing capacitance further is electricallycoupled to the readout line through the switching element.

In an alternative embodiment, each of the touch control units furtherincludes a thin film transistor. The first source/drain electrode iselectrically coupled to the corresponding one of the gate lines, thesecond source/drain electrode of the thin film transistor iselectrically coupled to the readout line, and the gate electrode of thethin film transistor is adapted to couple a predetermined voltagethrough the switching element. Moreover, the first source/drainelectrode of the thin film transistor is electrically coupled to thecorresponding one of the gate lines though a sensing capacitance.

A touch detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention is provided. The touch detection method is adapted to beimplemented on a display apparatus. The display apparatus includes aplurality of pixel units, a plurality of gate lines, a readout line anda plurality of touch control units. The gate lines are for decidingwhether to enable the pixel units. Each of the touch control units iselectrically coupled to the readout line and a corresponding one of thegate lines. The touch detection method includes the steps of: when atleast one of the touch control units is touched, coupling a waveform ofeach of at least one of the gate lines corresponding to the at least onetouched touch control unit to the readout line; and determining aposition of each of the at least one touched touch control unitaccording to a timing sequence of a waveform on the readout line.

In one embodiment, the touch detection method further includes the stepof: determining the amount of the at least one touched touch controlunit according to a pulse amount in a predetermined time interval of thewaveform on the readout line.

In another embodiment, the touch detection method further includes thestep of: determining a touching time of the at least one touched touchcontrol unit according to a pulse amount of the waveform on the readoutline corresponding to the waveform on the same gate line.

A display apparatus in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention is provided. The display apparatus includes a first substrateand a second substrate. The second substrate and the first substratehave a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween. The first substrateincludes a gate line, a readout line and a conductive body. Theconductive body and the gate line have a dielectric layer sandwichedtherebetween and whereby a sensing capacitance is formed. The conductivebody is preset to be electrically unconnected with the readout line. Thesecond substrate includes an electrode layer and a conductive connectingmember electrically insulated from the electrode layer. The electrodelayer and the conductive body have a liquid crystal capacitance formedtherebetween due to the existence of the liquid crystal layer betweenthe electrode layer and the conductive body. The liquid crystalcapacitance is electrically coupled with the sensing capacitance inseries. When an external force is applied on the conductive connectingmember, the conductive connecting member enables the conductive body andthe readout line to be electrically coupled with each other and therebya waveform on the gate line is coupled to the readout line. Furthermore,the conductive connecting member is structured to include a projectionmember projecting from the second substrate and a conductive layercovering the projection member.

A display apparatus in accordance with still another embodiment of thepresent invention is provided. The display apparatus includes a firstsubstrate and a second substrate. The second substrate and the firstsubstrate have a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween. The firstsubstrate includes a gate line, a readout line and a thin filmtransistor. The first source/drain electrode of the thin film transistoris electrically coupled to the gate line, and the second source/drainelectrode of the thin film transistor is electrically coupled to thereadout line. The second substrate includes a conductive connectingmember. The conductive connecting member is preset to be electricallyunconnected with the gate electrode of the thin film transistor. When anexternal force is applied on the conductive connecting member, theconnecting member is electrically connected with the gate electrode ofthe thin film transistor to supply a predetermined voltage to turn onthe thin film transistor and thereby a waveform on the gate line iscoupled to the readout line. Furthermore, the first source/drainelectrode of the thin film transistor and the gate line have adielectric layer sandwiched therebetween and whereby a sensingcapacitance is formed. The conductive connecting member can bestructured to include a projection member projecting from the secondsubstrate and a conductive layer covering the projection member.

In the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, when atleast one of the touch control units is touched, by way of coupling thewaveform(s) of the corresponding gate line(s) to the readout line, theposition, the amount and/or the touching time of the at least onetouched control unit can be determined according to the waveform on thereadout line. For example, determining the position(s) of the at leastone touched touch control unit according to a timing sequence of thewaveform on the readout line, determining the amount of the at least onetouched touch control unit according to a pulse amount in apredetermined time interval of the waveform on the readout line, anddetermining the touching time of the at least one touched touch controlunit according to a pulse amount of the waveform on the readout linecorresponding to a waveform on the same gate line. Accordingly, thedisplay apparatuses and touch detection method in accordance with theabove-mentioned embodiments can achieve multi-touch detection and thusthe applications are greatly enhanced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the followingdescription and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like partsthroughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic partial view of a display apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged view of a portion denoted by a dashedcircle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic and partially structural views of thedisplay apparatus in FIG. 1, in accordance with the first embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged view of the portion denoted by the dashedcircle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic and partially structural views of thedisplay apparatus in FIG. 1, in accordance with the second embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic enlarged view of the portion denoted by the dashedcircle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a third embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic and partially structural views of thedisplay apparatus in FIG. 1, in accordance with the third embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a step of determining a position of a touched controlunit according to a timing sequence of a waveform on a readout line, ofa touch detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a step of determining the amount of the touched touchcontrol unit(s) according to a pulse amount in a predetermined timeinterval of a waveform on the readout line, of the touch detectionmethod in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a step of determining a touching time of a touchedtouch control unit according to a pulse amount of a waveform on thereadout line corresponding to a waveform of the same gate line, of thetouch detection method in accordance with the embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic partial view of a display apparatus inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Thedisplay apparatus 10 includes a thin film transistor array (hereinafteralso refer to as “TFT array”) substrate 12, a color filter substrate(not shown in FIG. 1) and a liquid crystal layer (not shown in FIG. 1)sandwiched between the TFT array substrate 12 and the color filtersubstrate.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the TFT array substrate 12 has a plurality ofgate lines GLm, GLm+1, . . . , GLn, a plurality of data lines DL (onlyone is illustrated in FIG. 1 for the purpose of illustration) and aplurality of readout lines R1, R2, R3. The data lines DL are arrangedintersecting with the gate lines GLm, GLm+1, . . . , GLn. The readoutlines R1, R2, R3 are arranged substantially in parallel with the datalines DL.

Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic enlarged view of a portion denoted by adashed circle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a first embodiment of thepresent invention, is shown. An intersecting location of the data lineDL and the gate line GLm has a pixel unit (as denoted by the dashedrectangle on the left side in FIG. 2). The pixel unit includes a thinfilm transistor T1, a storage capacitance Cst and a liquid crystalcapacitance Clc. The gate electrode of the thin film transistor T1 iselectrically coupled to the gate line GLm, the drain electrode of thethin film transistor T1 is electrically coupled to the data line DL. Thestorage capacitance Cst and the liquid crystal capacitance Clc arecoupled with each other in parallel and both are electrically coupledbetween the source electrode of the thin film transistor T1 and apredetermined voltage Vcom (which is a common voltage in the presentembodiment). An intersecting location of the readout line R1 and thegate line GLm has a touch control unit (as denoted by the dashedrectangle on the right side in FIG. 2). The touch control unit includesa switching element SW, a sensing capacitance C1 and a liquid crystalcapacitance C2 electrically coupled with the sensing capacitance C1 inseries. One terminal of the sensing capacitance C1 is electricallycoupled to the gate line GLm. Another terminal of the sensingcapacitance C1 is coupled to the predetermined voltage Vcom through theliquid crystal capacitance C2 and electrically coupled to the readoutline R1 through the switching element SW.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, schematic and partially structural viewsof the display apparatus 10 in accordance with the first embodiment ofthe present invention are shown. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the TFTarray substrate 12 has the gate line GLm, the readout line R1, adielectric layer 121, a conductive body 123 and a discontinuousconductive layer 125 formed thereon. The gate line GLm and theconductive body 123 have the sensing capacitance C1 as illustrated inFIG. 2 formed therebetween due to the existence of the dielectric layer121 interposed between the gate line GLm and the conductive body 123. Aportion of the discontinuous conductive layer 125 is electricallycoupled with the conductive body 123 and another portion of thediscontinuous conductive layer 125 is electrically coupled with thereadout line R1. Since the conductive layer 125 is discontinuous andthus the conductive body 123 is preset to be electrically unconnectedwith the readout line R1. The color filter substrate 14 and the TFTarray substrate 12 together have a liquid crystal layer 13 sandwichedtherebetween. The color filter substrate 14 has an electrode layer 141and a conductive connecting member 143 formed thereon. The electrodelayer 141 acts as a common electrode (e.g., ITO common electrode) andthus can supply the predetermined voltage Vcom. The electrode layer 141and the conductive body 123 formed on the TFT array substrate 12 havethe liquid crystal capacitance C2 as illustrated in FIG. 2 formedtherebetween due to the existence of the liquid crystal layer 13 betweenthe electrode layer 141 and the conductive body 123. The conductiveconnecting member 143 and the electrode layer 141 are electricallyinsulated from each other. The conductive connecting member 143 and thediscontinuous conductive layer 125 formed on the TFT array substrate 12together form the switching element SW as illustrated in FIG. 2. In theillustrated embodiment, the conductive connecting member 143 isstructured to include a projection member 1430 projecting from the colorfilter substrate 14 and a conductive layer 1432 covering the projectionmember 1430. The conductive layer 1432 can be an ITO layer.

As illustrated in FIG. 3B, when an external force is applied on theconductive connecting member 143, the conductive connecting member 143enables the portions of the discontinuous conductive layer 125respectively electrically coupled to the conductive body 123 and thereadout line R1 to be electrically connected with each other (i.e., theswitching element SW as illustrated in FIG. 2 is turn on), and therebythe conductive body 123 and the readout line R1 are electricallycommunicated with each other and thus a waveform on the gate line GLm iscoupled to the readout line R1.

Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic enlarged view of the portion as denotedby the dashed circle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a second embodimentof the present invention, is shown. As illustrated in FIG. 4, theintersecting location of the data line DL and the gate line GLm has apixel unit (as denoted by the dashed rectangle on the left side in FIG.4). The pixel unit includes a thin film transistor T1, a storagecapacitance Cst and a liquid crystal capacitance Clc. The gate electrodeof the thin film transistor T1 is electrically coupled to the gate lineGLm, and the drain electrode of the thin film transistor T1 iselectrically coupled to the data line DL. The storage capacitance Cstand the liquid crystal capacitance Clc are electrically coupled witheach other in parallel and both coupled between the source electrode ofthe thin film transistor T1 and a predetermined voltage Vcom (which is acommon voltage in the present embodiment). The intersecting location ofthe readout line R1 and the gate line GLm has a touch control unit (asdenoted by the dashed rectangle on the right side in FIG. 4). The touchcontrol unit includes a switching element SW and a thin film transistorT2. The source electrode of the thin film transistor T2 is electricallycoupled to the gate line GLm, the drain electrode of the thin filmtransistor T2 is electrically coupled to the readout line R1, and thegate electrode of the thin film transistor T2 is adapted to couple thepredetermined voltage Vcom through the switching element SW.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, schematic and partially structural viewsof the display apparatus 10, in accordance with the second embodiment ofthe present invention, are shown. As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the TFTarray substrate 12 has the gate line GLm, the readout line R1, the thinfilm transistor T2 and a conductive layer 127. The source electrode S ofthe thin film transistor T2 is electrically coupled to the gate line GLmthrough the conductive layer 127, and the drain electrode D of the thinfilm transistor T2 is electrically coupled to the readout line R1. Thecolor filter substrate 14 and the TFT array substrate 12 have the liquidcrystal layer 13 sandwiched therebetween. The color filter substrate 14has an electrode layer 141 and a conductive connecting member 143 formedthereon. The electrode layer 141 acts as a common electrode (e.g., ITOcommon electrode) and thus can supply the predetermined voltage Vcom.The conductive connecting member 143 and the electrode layer 141 areelectrically insulated from each other. The conductive connecting member143 and the gate electrode G of the thin film transistor T2 togetherform the switching element SW as illustrated in FIG. 4. The conductiveconnecting member 143 is preset to be electrically unconnected with thegate electrode G of the thin film transistor T2. In the presentembodiment, the conductive connecting member 143 is structured toinclude a projection member 1430 projecting from the color filtersubstrate 14 and a conductive layer 1432 covering the projection member1430. The conductive layer 1432 can be an ITO layer.

As illustrated in FIG. 5B, when an external force is applied on theconductive connecting member 143, the conductive connecting member 143and the gate electrode G of the thin film transistor T2 are electricallycommunicated with each other (i.e., the switching element SW asillustrated in FIG. 4 is turn on) to supply the predetermined voltageVcom to turn on the thin film transistor T2, and thereby a waveform onthe gate line GLm is coupled to the readout line R1.

Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic partial view of the portion as denotedby the dashed circle in FIG. 1, in accordance with a third embodiment ofthe present invention, is shown. As illustrated in FIG. 6, similar tothe illustration of FIG. 4, the intersecting location of the data lineDL and the gate line GLm has a pixel unit (as denoted by the dashedrectangle on the left side in FIG. 6). The pixel unit includes a thinfilm transistor T1, a storage capacitance Cst and a liquid crystalcapacitance Clc. The intersecting location of the readout line R1 andthe gate line GLm has a touch control unit (as denoted by the dashedrectangle on the right side in FIG. 6). The touch control unit includesa switching element SW and a thin film transistor T2. However, thesource electrode of the thin film transistor T2 as illustrated in FIG. 6is electrically coupled to the gate line GLm through a sensingcapacitance C1, rather than directly coupled to the gate line GLm likethe illustration of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, schematic and partially structural viewsof the display apparatus 10, in accordance with the third embodiment ofthe present invention, are shown. As illustrated in FIG. 7A, the TFTarray substrate 12 has the gate line GLm, the readout line R1, the thinfilm transistor T2 and a dielectric layer 121 formed thereon. The sourceelectrode S of the thin film transistor T2 and the gate line GLm havethe sensing capacitance C1 as illustrated in FIG. 6 formed therebetweendue to the existence of the dielectric layer 121 sandwiched between thesource electrode S and the gate line GLm. The drain electrode D of thethin film transistor T2 is electrically coupled to the readout line R1.The color filter substrate 14 and the TFT array substrate 12 have theliquid crystal layer 13 sandwiched therebetween. The color filtersubstrate 14 has a electrode layer 141 and a conductive connectingmember 143. The electrode layer 141 acts as a common voltage (e.g., ITOcommon voltage) and thus can supply the predetermined voltage Vcom. Theconductive connecting member 143 and the electrode layer 141 areelectrically insulated from each other. The conductive connecting member143 and the gate electrode G of the thin film transistor T2 togetherform the switching element SW as illustrated in FIG. 6. The conductiveconnecting member 143 is preset to be electrically unconnected with thegate electrode G of the thin film transistor T2. In the presentembodiment, the conductive connecting member 143 is structured toinclude a projection member 1430 projecting from the color filtersubstrate 14 and a conductive layer 1432 covering the projection member1430. The conductive layer 1432 can be an ITO layer.

As illustrated in FIG. 7B, when an external force is applied on theconductive connecting member 143, the conductive connecting member 143is electrically communicated with the gate electrode G of the thin filmtransistor T2 (i.e., the switching element SW as illustrated in FIG. 6is turn on) to supply the predetermined voltage Vcom to turn on the thinfilm transistor T2, and thereby a waveform on the gate line GLm iscoupled to the readout line R1.

Referring to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, a touch detection method implemented onthe display apparatus 10 as illustrated in FIG. 1 will be describedbelow in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, when the touch control unit of the displayapparatus 10 which is electrically coupled to the gate line GLm+1 andthe readout line R2 is touched, a waveform on the gate line GLm+1corresponding to the touched touch control unit is coupled to thereadout line R2. As seen from FIG. 8, a pulse of a waveform on thereadout line R2 is located at a position corresponding to the waveformon the gate line GLm+1, therefore it is determined that the touchcontrol unit electrically coupled to the gate line GLm+1 and the readoutline R2 is touched according to the position of the pulse of thewaveform (i.e., timing sequence of the waveform) on the readout line R2.In short, a position of a touched touch control unit can be determinedaccording to the timing sequence of a waveform on the readout line.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, when there is only one touch control unit istouched, a waveform on the readout line R2 has one pulse in apredetermined time interval T; when there is two touch control units aretouched, a waveform on the readout line R2 has two pulses in thepredetermined time interval T; and when there is three touch controlunits are touched, a waveform on the readout line R2 has three pulses inthe predetermined time interval T; and so on. In other words, using apulse amount in a predetermined time interval of a waveform on a readoutline can determine the amount of touched touch control unit(s). It isindicated that, when there are a plurality of touch control units aretouched, the touched touch control units are not limited to the touchcontrol units electrically coupled to the same readout line asillustrated in FIG. 9, and can be touch control units electricallycoupled to different readout lines.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the touch control unit of the displayapparatus 10 which is electrically coupled to the gate line GLm+1 andthe readout line R2 is touched, a pulse amount of the waveform on thereadout line 2 which is corresponding to the waveform on the gate lineGLm+1 is two, and thereby a touching time of the touched touch controlunit can be determined as 2T. That is to say, using a pulse amount of awaveform on a readout line which is corresponding to the waveform on thesame gate line can determine a touching time of touched touch controlunit.

In summary, in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention,when at least one of the touch control units is touched, by way ofcoupling the waveform(s) of the corresponding gate line(s) to thereadout line, the position, the amount and/or the touching time of theat least one touched control unit can be determined according to thewaveform on the readout line. For example, determining the position(s)of the at least one touched touch control unit according to a timingsequence of the waveform on the readout line, determining the amount ofthe at least one touched touch control unit according to a pulse amountin a predetermined time interval of the waveform on the readout line,and determining the touching time of the at least one touched touchcontrol unit according to a pulse amount of the waveform on the readoutline corresponding to a waveform on the same gate line. Accordingly, thedisplay apparatuses and touch detection method in accordance with theabove-mentioned embodiments can achieve multi-touch detection and thusthe applications are greatly enhanced.

In addition, the skilled person in the art can make some modificationswith respect to the display apparatuses and the touch detection methodin the above-mentioned embodiments, for example, suitably changing thestructural configuration(s) of the pixel unit and/or the touch controlunit, interchanging the connections of the source electrodes and thedrain electrodes of the respective thin film transistors, changing thestructural configuration of the TFT array substrate, and/or changing thestructural configuration of the color filter substrate, as long as suchmodification(s) would not depart from the scope and spirit of thepresent invention.

The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation.Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devisevariations that are within the scope and spirit of the inventiondisclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portionsand materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, thevarious features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone,or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to belimited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope ofthe claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.

1. A display apparatus comprising: a plurality of pixel units; aplurality of gate lines for deciding whether to enable the pixel units;a readout line; and a plurality of touch control units, each of thetouch control units being electrically coupled to the readout line and acorresponding one of the gate lines and comprising a switching element;wherein when one of the touch control units is touched, the switchingelement of the touched touch control unit is turned on, and thereby awaveform on the gate line corresponding to the touched touch controlunit is coupled to the readout line and a position of the touched touchcontrol unit is determined according to a timing sequence of a waveformon the readout line.
 2. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1,wherein each of the touch control units further comprises a sensingcapacitance and a liquid crystal capacitance electrically coupled withthe sensing capacitance in series, a first terminal of the sensingcapacitance is electrically coupled to the corresponding one of the gatelines, a second terminal of the sensing capacitance is coupled to apredetermined voltage through the liquid crystal capacitance andelectrically coupled to the readout line through the switching element.3. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of thetouch control units further comprises a thin film transistor, the firstsource/drain electrode of the thin film transistor is electricallycoupled to the corresponding one of the gate lines, the secondsource/drain electrode of the thin film transistor is electricallycoupled to the readout line, and the gate electrode of the thin filmtransistor is adapted to couple a predetermined voltage through theswitching element.
 4. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 3,wherein the first source/drain electrode of the thin film transistor iselectrically coupled to the corresponding one of the gate lines througha sensing capacitance.
 5. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1,further comprising: a first substrate, wherein the first substrate isformed with the corresponding one of the gate lines, the readout line,and a conductive body of a corresponding one of the touch control units,the conductive body and the corresponding one of the gate lines have adielectric layer sandwiched therebetween and whereby a sensingcapacitance of the corresponding one of the touch control units isformed, the conductive body is preset to be electrically unconnectedwith the readout line; and a second substrate, wherein the secondsubstrate and the first substrate together have a liquid crystal layersandwiched therebetween, the second substrate is formed with anelectrode layer, and a conductive connecting member of the correspondingone of the touch control units electrically insulated from the electrodelayer, the electrode layer and the conductive body form a liquid crystalcapacitance of the corresponding one of the touch control unitsresulting from the existence of the liquid crystal layer, the liquidcrystal capacitance is electrically coupled with the sensing capacitancein series, and the switching element of the corresponding one of thetouch control units comprises the conductive body and the conductiveconnecting member; wherein when an external force is applied on theconductive connecting member to turn on the switching element of thecorresponding one of the touch control units, the conductive connectingmember enables the conductive body and the readout line to electricallycouple with each other and thereby the waveform on the corresponding oneof the gate lines is coupled to the readout line.
 6. The displayapparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the conductive connectingmember comprises a projection member projecting from the secondsubstrate and a conductive layer covering the projection member.
 7. Atouch detection method adapted to be implemented on the displayapparatus as claimed in claim 1, the touch detection method comprising:when at least one of the touch control units is touched, coupling awaveform of each of at least one of the gate lines corresponding to theat least one touched touch control unit to the readout line; anddetermining a position of each of the at least one touched touch controlunit according to a timing sequence of a waveform on the readout line.8. The touch detection method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:determining the amount of the at least one touched touch control unitaccording to a pulse amount in a predetermined time interval of thewaveform on the readout line.
 9. The touch detection method as claimedin claim 7, further comprising: determining a touching time of the atleast one touched touch control unit according to a pulse amount of thewaveform on the readout line corresponding to the waveform on the samegate line.